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Tragedy
in Bovikkana and Rajapuram: Tip of the iceberg!
More
shocking reports are coming in regarding the ill effects of endosulfan
spraying on cashew plantation in Kerala villages. If the available
information is any indication, a minimum of a dozen Kasaragod
villages will have thousands of poor villagers of all age groups
suffering from various incurable ailments - without knowing its
cause!
Bovikkana
is in Muliyar Panchayath (Kasaragod Taluk and same district).
A local sports and Arts Club, Punchiri has conducted a survey
of 40 houses in the village. There are about 156 persons living
in these houses. Out of these 39 were found to be seriously ill.
Swelling in Chest -2 (cases),
Mentally Retarded -8,
Persons with Mental Retardation & Born handicapped - 6,
Psoriasis - 2,
Psychiatric - 3,
Gynaec problems - 6,
Goiter -1,
Problem in Oral region-1,
Sterility - 5,
Hydrocephalus - 1,
Born Handicapped - 4 .
Total - 39.
Mr.
K.B. Mohammad, Club President, says, "There will be hundreds of
such cases in and around Bovikkana. But you need to conduct an
in-depth, house-to-house survey to bring this to light. Ours was
a pilot survey. We selected only some areas that is very close
to the cashew plantations." In fact in some of these areas, cashew
tree population is extremely less (there are more houses than
cashew trees), and the human dwellings are so close to the plantation.
Such areas should have been no-spray zones. There are 8 schools
in the vicinity of Plantation Corporation of Kerala's cashew plantation.
No survey has been done here. The State Government's health department
has to conduct a medical survey by multi-disciplinary team immediately.
Rajapuram
is in Hosdurg Taluk of Kasaragod District. PCK has 248 hectares
of cashew plantation in the village. Here, in the houses very
close to plantations (25 to 200 metres), in the last three years,
10 persons have died of cancer. Age group of the dead is 18 to
78. Soyal, who was a student at the seminary, Kottayam is the
youngest (18) to die on 14th May 1999. A PCK labourer, Annamma
(39), wife of Jose Karuplakal, who had been working with PCK since
two decades, breathed her last on July 7, 1999, due to Cancer.
Chedikund John (50) and his elder brother Maththayi (60) are among
the other cancer victims of this area. This may only be a tip
of the iceberg. Reports are coming forward from villages like
Nettanige, Karadka etc., about different kinds of diseases. If
the available information is any indication, a minimum of a dozen
Kasaragod villages will have thousands of poor villagers of all
age groups suffering from various incurable ailments - without
knowing its cause and being helpless about it!
ENDOSULFAN
SPRAY PROTEST ACTION COMMITTEE
Perla-Padre
- 671552
Kasaragod, Kerala
Press
Release
March 10, 2001
Plantation
Corporation of Kerala is trying to hush up issue
Officials
of Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) are visiting tragedy-hit
Padre Village of Kasaragod district and are using pressure tactics
to disprove the widespread understanding that there is a co-relation
between the high incidence of dreaded diseases and the aerial
spray of endosulfan.
It
is to be noted that the Delhi based reputed environment organisation,
'Centre for Science & Environment' (CSE) had recently taken soil,water,human
blood, vegetable , fruit & cashew samples from Padre village .
Tests at CSE lab had shown shockingly high levels of endosulfan
in all the samples . This fact was widely covered in the media.
In the wake of this , as per the information given to our committee
by the villagers, PCK seems to be in a secret mission to collect
blood and other samples from the area in a bid to hush up the
issue.
No
PCK official have never visited the a victim's family to personally
understand the tragedy or to enquire the status of these poor
sufferers . Now, their sudden appearance and visits to poor victims
houses, that too to the ones whose photos are carried in the media,
arises suspicion and speculation among the villagers.
Endosulfan
Spray Protest Action Committee of Perla warns the PCK officials
to stop their pressure tactics on helpless villagers to twist
the truth . If they continue such tricks, they might have to face
dire consequences.
Aravinda
Yedamale
Chairman
Correspondence :
C/o Kajampady Nursing Home,
Post Perla 671552.
Kasaragod, Kerala
Phone 0499-895088
Please
Note: For details on the issue, you may visit: http://www.farmedia.org/endo_open.html
Aerial
Spraying of Pesticide Exacts Deadly Toll in Kerala Village
Received
on January 18, 2001
TAKE
ACTION TO PREVENT NEXT SPRAYING
Write
to:
The
District Collector
Collectorate, Civil Station
Post Vidyanagar, Kasaragod 671 122
Kerala
FAX: +91 (0)499 430883
Padre
in Northern Kerala is a village where physical deformities,
cancers and disorders of the central nervous system are nothing
out of the ordinary. Over a decade, a local doctor discovered
a classic cluster within a settlement of 400 households, where
more than 156 people, including a disproportionate number of
children, were afflicted with severe health problems -- cancers,
epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, congenital anomalies and suicidal
tendencies. In Padre and nearby villages, entire families have
been ruined, marriages destroyed, childhoods robbed by these
deadly ailments.
For
the longest time, the victims and their families believed they
had incurred the wrath of Lord Shiva. Not many people, certainly
not publicly, had conceived that the routine aerial spraying
of the deadly pesticide endosulfan on the surrounding cashew
plantations had anything to do with the health disorders. But
as evidence to that effect began mounting, the locals began
sending in their representations to various wings of the Government
and to the plantation owners (Plantation Corporation of Kerala)
to bring about an end to the spraying of these poisons.
Their
representations continue to be met with stoic indifference,
and claims that aerial spraying causes no damage. On December
26, the Plantation Corporation carried out the aerial spraying
under heavy police protection to thwart attempts by local communities
to prevent spraying. The helicopter sprayed over the village
water bodies and grazing grounds as the villagers helplessly
watched, restrained by their own Government from protecting
their lands. Cattle dropped dead in their tracks; birds, in
mid-flight. Already with more than 25 years of spraying, the
farms and rivers of Kasragod district are virtual ecological
deserts. No fish, no frogs.
Another
round of aerial spraying is scheduled for end January or early
February. The villagers of Padre, Periya and Muliyar, appeal
to you to write in to the above address requesting the District
Collector to:
ORDER
THE IMMEDIATE CESSATION OF AERIAL SPRAYING OF ENDOSULFAN ON
THE CASHEW PLANTATIONS.
Sincerely,
Shree
Padre
Earlier
Press Releases
Death
from air: Crisp cashewnut costs several lives - both human and
animal
With
the increase in the incidents of cancer, psychiatric cases, epilepsy,
asthma, infertility and suicide in the area, villagers in Padre
(Kerala State, India) have finally realised the cause - aerial
spray of deadly endosulphan by the state-owned plantation corporation.
Villagers
in Padre in Kasargod District of Kerala State, India are all set
to protest the aerial spray of deadly endosulfan over cashewnut
plantation in the area and the village panchayath will soon put
its objection on record.
In different places bordering Kerala State, India, the Plantation
Corporation of Kerala (belong to Kerala State Government) sprays
endosulfan two-three times a year (between December and March)
through helicopter to prevent tea-mosquito attack to cashew inflorescence.
From 1963 to 1980, it was spraying 'Endrin' and from 1980 onwards
'Endosulphan' has been sprayed. Nearly 4,600 hectares of Cashew
Garden is being sprayed with this hazardous chemical. The Corporation
is supposed to temporarily cover all the water sources like dug-wells,
tanks etc., before spraying. It seldom takes this precautionary
measure.
Decades
ago, at one of the local farmer's house, successively, three cows
gave birth to calves with severely deformed limbs. His tank, wherefrom
these cattle drink water is by the side of Plantation Corporation's
garden and every year, it used to be contaminated by the spray.
People in the vicinity suffer from nausea; asthma patients get
severe strokes, not to mention frogs, fish and even chicken that
gets killed once in a while.
People
are protesting against this aerial spray. In Mulleria, Periya
etc., they protested, though we don't know the exact results.
Today, youngsters at Padre village protested, but corporation
went ahead with the spray under police protection. Police contend
that unless somebody brings a court stay, they can't stop the
spray.
CAAM
team member Mr. Shree Padre who hails from one of the affected
villages mentions: "Dr Y. S. Mohankumar, MBBS, has been practicing
in our village since last 19 years. His practicing area is spread
over two villages, Kumbdaje and Padre-both in Kasaragod Dt-(has
two clinics)and keeps visiting these areas now and then . Plantation
Corporation must be spraying endosulfon through helicopter since
the last three decades."
Dr.
Mohankumar says that incidence of mental retardation cases, blood
cancer and psychiatric cases are high in these areas which gets
sprayed. There is a rivulet flowing in middle of the village.
Farm labourers who consume water recharged from this rivulet (residing
nearby) seem to be the worst victims. There is a particular family,
which has three blood cancer patients. Most of the psychiatry
cases aren't in-born, says the doctor.
Dr.
Mohankumar has realised this unusual development and has dashed
off letters to the editor of Indian Medical Journal a couple of
years ago to invite attention of medical researchers to the issue.
Number of cases as recorded by Dr.Y. S. Mohankumar as on January
5, 2001:
Cancer
- living - 3
Cancer
- dead - 46
Mentally
Retarded - 23
Psychiatric
Cases - 43
Epilepsy
- 23
Congenital
anomaly (Born handicapped) - 9
Suicide
cases - 9
Total
- 156
(
This in about 4 sq. km area of Padre village, Enmakaje Panchayath,
Kasaragod District, Kerala State, India, from among an estimated
population of 2,000 people, from about 400 houses.)
In
Periya Village, there is a government employee, Ms. Leelakimari,
who raised the issue two years ago. She spent about Rs.40,000
from her salary savings and was successful in getting a stay single
handedly when she was convinced that endosulfan ruins her family
and society's health and that local people and government was
not helping in anyway.
A
team of Thanal Conservation Action and Information Network, Thiruvananthapuram
visited the affected area on January 7-8 and a meeting was conducted
wherein about 60 villagers had partaken. The panchayath president
who chaired the meeting assured to pass a resolution against aerial
spraying in the panchayath meeting to be held on January 11, 2001.
Background
Endosulfan,
commonly known by its trade name Thiodan, is an insecticide. It
was first introduced in the 1950s. It is now out-of-patent, but
AgrEvo (formerly Hoescht) is still the most important producer
worldwide. Endosulfan is widely used, and is an important cause
of pesticide poisoning in many countries. It is also extremely
toxic to fish and other aquatic life.
Endosulfan
is one of the classes of compounds called organochlorines. This
class of chemicals is the most important of the persistent organic
pollutants or POPs. There is now a move for a worldwide ban on
POPs because of their link to cancer and long-term subtle effects
on hormones, the immune system, and reproduction. Unlike other
POPS, which travel across the globe, endosulfan tends to remain
in the region of its use. Yet it has been found in high concentrations
in many areas around the world because it is so widely used. The
information below describes the environmental and health properties
of endosulfan, and shows why it should be banned worldwide.
Short
term toxicity
There
is concern over the acute toxicity of endosulfan. The World Health
Organization (WHO) classifies endosulfan in Category 2 (moderately
hazardous). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
classifies it as Category Ib (highly hazardous) pesticide. It
is readily absorbed by the stomach, by the lungs, and through
the skin, meaning that all routes of exposure can pose a hazard.
Numerous
cases of both suicidal and occupational poisonings have been reported.
Proper protective clothing (safety goggles, gloves, long sleeves,
long pants, respirator) is needed to prevent poisoning when handling
endosulfan. Before it was banned in the Philippines in the early
1990s, endosulfan had become the number one cause of pesticide
poisonings. Another concern, especially in developing countries,
is that people with diets low in protein may be more sensitive
to the effects of this pesticide.
Long-term
toxicity
Although
the short-term toxicity of endosulfan is of immediate concern,
there are also long-term effects to consider. There is some indication
that endosulfan can have adverse effects on the immune system
at low levels of exposure. There is mounting evidence that organochlorine
compounds can act as hormones. These compounds, including DDT,
PCBs, and endosulfan, may also be part of the cause for the decrease
in the quality of semen, an increase in testicular and prostate
cancer, an increase in defects in male sex organs, and increased
incidence of breast cancer which has been observed in the last
fifty years. Endosulfan has also been found to cause mutations.
Environmental
Effects
Endosulfan
is also a concern for environmental reasons: it is highly toxic
to fish. Safe levels of endosulfan in water are measured in parts
per trillion, e.g. European Union maximum acceptable level is
0.001 ug/l. Endosulfan can cause fish kills even when used at
recommended application rates. Because of this, endosulfan should
not be sprayed over marshlands or bodies of water. Caution should
also be observed when spraying near ditches, canals, rivers, streams,
ponds, and lakes. Endosulfan is persistent in soil, and its major
degradation product, endosulfan sulfate, is as toxic as endosulfan.
(Background
information from: Thanal Conservation Action and Information Network
and Mr. Shree Padre's observations)
UPDATE
- HAZARDOUS ENDOSULFAN SPRAY: VILLAGERS RESOLVE TO OPPOSE
On
January 11, 2001, the elected body of people's representatives,
i.e., Enmakaje Panchayath convened a meeting and has unanimously
resolved to oppose any form of endosulfan spray in the area.
Here
is the text:
ENMAKAJE
PANCHAYATH, KASARGOD DISTRICT, KERALA
Dt.11.1.2001,
PR.No.185/2001(1 to 3)
RESOLUTION
No.185/2001 ( 1 ) : In view of the shockingly high rate of serious
diseases like Cancer, Psychiatry, Epilepsy, Mental Depression,
Born Handicapped, Asthma & Skin diseases that has come to light
from Padre and other areas of our Panchayath, we, the members
of Enmakaje Panchayath hereby unanimously resolve to vehemently
oppose against any kind of endosulfan spray in our area - aerial
or otherwise - until and unless a thorough, multi-discipline medical
survey and investigation of the cause for this tragedy is conducted
by the concerned officials .
RESOLUTION
No . 185/2001 ( 2 ) : We, the members of Enmakaje Panchayath,
unanimously urge the District Collector, The District Medical
Officer and others concerned to immediately provide all necessary
medical treatment, on war footing, to hundreds of residents of
our Panchayath in general and Padre in particular who have been
suffering from serious illness like Cancer, Psychiatry , Epilepsy,
Mental Depression, Born Handicapped, Asthma & Skin diseases .
Further, we also urge that an immediate, multi-discipline survey
and medical investigation consisting of experts from all the disciplines
like Psychiatry, Neurology, Psychological Counselor, Toxicology,
Gynecology (lady), Nutrition and Family Physician to find out
the cause for this very high incidence of diseases should be taken
up immediately.
RESOLUTION
No . 185/2001 ( 3 ) : In view of the ill-effects of endosulfan
reported in the press, quoting experts in the field, we, the members
of Enmakaje Pachayath unanimously resolve to caution the Plantation
Corporation of Kerala (PCK) and the institutions that have reportedly
certified the said organo-chlorine pesticide as harmless that
our Panchayath is opposed to any form of spray of the said pesticide
and if PCK goes ahead with spraying of this pesticide despite
our opposition, all the above concerned institutions would be
responsible for any kind of harm that occurs to human beings,
animals and agriculture crop of our Panchayath.
Here
is a letter on the same subject for your information.
I
am a veterinary practitioner at Mangalore in India. Finding lot
of cases of cancers, psycho-somatic disorders, infertility, abortions,
liver & kidney disorders in livestock and pets in a pocket of
3 villages where cashew plantations are sprayed with ENDOSULFAN
by using helicopter, thrice a year, since more than 10 years.
I need more information on recorded toxic effects of Endosulfan
on livestock, pets, poultry and fishes.
Any
other information regarding research activities, treatment approaches
and review articles are also welcome. Waiting for your earliest
reply.
Dr. Manohara Upadhya, Mangalore Veterinary Service Centre, Pumpwell,
MANGALORE - 575002 India.
E mail: mantapa@eudoramail.com
Contact
Numbers of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala:
Mr. Bala Kurup, Manager of TPCK, Kasaragod. Phone: 91-499-450223.
Headquarters of TPCK: Managing Director's phone: 91-481-578301.
Thanal,
a Trivandrum based organisation, has been working on this issue
and has piled up heap of information on ill-effects of endosulphan.
Contact:
Mr. C. Jayakumar Coordinator,Thanal Conservation Action and Information
Network, P B # 815, Kawdiar, Thiruvananthapuram - 695 003, Kerala,
India.
Telephone: 91-471-311896
Email: thanal@vsnl.com
For
information on toxicity of endosulphan here are some websites:
online database for pesticide http://www.undp.org/gef/sgp
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/
http://www.scorecard.com
For
more information contact: Shree Padre, Journalist, Post Vaninagar,
Via Perla 671552 Kerala State, INDIA
Tel
: 91-499-866148 ; 91-8251-47234
Email:
spadre@vsnl.com
You
may please visit this site and offer your comments.
http://www.safe2use.com/ca-ipm/01-01-05b.htm
CENTRE
FOR ALTERNATIVE AGRICULTURAL MEDIA (CAAM) Dharwad, INDIA
Email:
caam@vsnl.net
Website:
http://www.farmedia.org
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